Lanhydrock is nestled in the seclusion of the densely wooded Fowey valley, and surrounded by hundreds of acres of parkland. Looking every inch like a solid, Victorian mansion, the highly decorative mid-17th century gatehouse provides the first clue that all is not quite what it appears to be.

After a number of owners, it was purchased by Sir Richard Robartes, a powerful local merchant, the son of a very successful Cornish moneylender, in 1620. Sir Robert and his son John, completed the construction of a new house on the site, a traditional four-sided house around a central courtyard. For the next 335 years, many of the owners of Lanhydrock became MPs.

Only the granite gatehouse survives from their house, which was laid out on the four sides of a central square. John Robartes was in fact the leader of the Parliamentarian faction in Cornwall, but was able to ingratiate himself with Charles II on the restoration, and became Earl of Radnor.

In the mid-19th century, the 1st Baron Robartes of Lanhydrock and Truro decided to make this his home and commissioned George Gilbert Scott to modernise and remodel Lanhydrock. This Victorian architect attempted to reinstate Lanhydrock as a comfortable country house.

Only 20 years after the restoration work was completed, the south and west wings were destroyed by a great fire in 1881, but luckily the north wing with the Long Gallery survived. The house was then re-built as the present Victorian house, by Baron Robartes son Thomas. This gave the neo-Jacobean façade, with a traditional Victorian arrangement of rooms internally. A local architect, Richard Coad, a former pupil of Scott did this work. It was given to the National Trust in 1953, along with 400 acres of grounds.

There is a National Trust shop on site with plant sales. Dogs on leads only in the park and woods. There is a Servants’ Hall restaurant (licensed) in the main house with childrens menu and a Stables snack bar in the harness block.